So, next week, I have to pull 3 or 4 12-hour shifts (7 PM to 7 AM) for work. Given that my normal sleep schedule has me getting up at 5:50 and going to bed at 9:30, 10:30-ish, this does not bode well for me.

This will be a hospital, so there will be bright lights and nowhere to sit down, along with plenty of coffee. I'm planning on staying up until 3 AM for the next few nights (and pull an all-nighter the night before my flight) to get myself used to this new sleep schedule. However, if anyone here has thoughts on how to work from 8 to 5 and prepare to work 4:30 AM to 7 AM the next day, your thoughts would be appreciated.

Oof... a toughie.

I'd suggest staying active (but not too active, just not sitting on your butt). I usually have to eat as well, because I get tired if I haven't eaten in a while. I know people say to read a book before sleeping, but depending on how good the book is, it might help you stay up (same goes with any long TV series or movie set you may own, or playing a long videogame). In general, anything that'll keep you engaged but not easily wear you out.

Amphetamine is used among some college students to stay awake all night for studying, so it might help in your case. :joke:

Having someone good to talk to with an engaging conversation works or you can go with what geb said by playing video games.

Amphetamines aren't irrational if you already have a script for adderall or something. If you don't then I don't gather you're generally the kinda person who would go out and hunt some down.

Excedrin--65mg of caffeine in every pill.
Piracetam--A supplement which provides alertness and a slight stimulative effect (no harmful side effects known, been on the market for 29 years now) and can be used to keep your alertness at a peak level while you ARE awake (also a good study aid).
Not being a woman--not sold in stores, hard to come by in girly men.

But generally, I just tend to drink a crapload of caffeine and force myself to stay awake. Unless it's been an absolutely brutal day it's not too hard for me.

If you feel yourself nodding off, curl up your toes until your foot cramps. The pain will jolt you awake.

True dat.

Stop drinking caffiene now. Don't drink any, no matter what. This way, when you really need it, it will actually work.

smoke a lot of crack too that should help

Get up a couple of hours earlier than you right now then a couple more each day until you change shifts. The first day will suck, but it will make the transition easier.

The truth. It's how I've made it through college. That, and good company always helps a lot.

Start staying up as late as possible and then sleeping in as late as you can. Kind of like how during summer break your sleep gets messed up. It is hard to transition in such a short time though. If you were in the Army I would tell you to suck it up. Since you're not I'll just tell you to join the Army.

Drinking too much caffeine, especially coffee, can really mess you up over time. I know for me when I first started drinking coffee, the caffeine boost lasted a good 4-6 hours but now when I drink it, it hardly lasts an hour. I'm starting to adapt to the stuff a little too much now and I'm becoming slightly addicted to it because when I don't drink in the morning, I'm grumpy as hell and can't hardly think straight.

Hopefully when my math class is finally over next week, I can try to focus on weening myself off the stuff.

A 15 minute power nap if you can manage it. Learn to fast-meditate and do it when you do have time to stop.

Ahh, the 12 hour night shift at the hospital. Been doing that for over 4 years now, and since I do like to have an occasional "normal people" day to hang out with family or shop somewhere other than Walmart, I have to switch my biological clock.

Generally, when I want to get back on a day-ish schedule, I lose a day in the process of the switch. I'll get home and go straight to sleep, then try to wake up early around say 1 or 2, then go to bed at a reasonable midnight-ish time, allowing me to get back up by 7 or 8am.

When I'm switching back to a night schedule, on the day before I have to work a night shift (32 hours prior to), I don't get up until after 10am, then I stay up as long as I possibly can (usually until 4am the morning of the night shift I have to work), then sleep until time to get up for work.

If I'm only off work 1 or 2 nights before I have to work again, I generally don't try to switch my internal clock. Its too hard. As far as keeping yourself awake, Caffeine works for me when I'm desparate, and doing something that keeps my mind engaged is key (I'm partial to Sudoku), or reading a novel.

I love 12's. Only working 4 on 4 off, 4 on 3 off is greeaaaaattttt. Love automatic overtime too.

Caffeine enhances your mind's ability to stay engaged, so don't drink coffee and then do bugger all. Drink coffee and try tackling a really difficult problem instead.

Since you're a programmer steal a few minutes every now and then to tackle the python challenge. There is nothing more effective than a programming challenge to make your forget you're tired.

drop an exstacy pill whenever you need to stay awake.

except when you're tired of the programming challenge

First, stop drinking anything with caffeine. You build up tolerances and then it doesn't do as much.

Second, stop having caffeine period. It's great as a pick-me-up, but you'll crash a little while later and you'll feel worse than before.

I recommend drinking water, actually. If you can keep yourself overhydrated (so you have to pee a lot), it will help keep you awake for longer periods of time without crashing.

Eating healthier (more fruit, vegetables) is better too. If you eat simple, natural foods, your body can break them down. Eating more "complex foods" (synthetic, manmade) that often have a lot more sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc will cause an insulin spike. After the spike, your insulin drops, which leaves you tired and hungry (often for more sugar to cause an increased insulin level, which then drops, and the cycle starts over.

3 words.

redline energy drink.

Energy drinks are fantastically shortsighted. It'll give you a massive energy boost now (with 1000% more than your daily recommended dosage of a lot of things with super long names (refer to my previous post about your body breaking these down and insulin spikes). The human body was not meant to digest 1000% more than it's 'daily recommended dosage' of ANYTHING.), but if you won't help you stay awake for longer periods of time.

Just stay active and you wont get sleepy... you'll be tired though. It's when you sit down or aren't doing anything that you will get sleepy.

I personally can't stand much taurine (less than 10mg is about all I can stand) which is what most energy drinks have in them. Something I found that will give you a 1, maybe 2 hour kick, to keep you moving at the end of the day, is a Starbucks doubleshot expresso can. I hate coffee with a passion, but I used to gag these things down between work and class and it kept me alert enough to listen to my boring *** english prof for an hour and 20 mins before driving home and crashing into bed.

I worked three 16+ hour days this last weekend.

We went to bed at 2330 and I woke up at 0345 to get stuff ready for my Marines. In reality I got about three hours of poor sleep.

This is an instant (effectively) transition from working until 0100 in the morning and starting at 1530, and sleeping for eight hours.

We ran probably a total of 12 miles and worked out several hours a day, with classes the rest of the day wearing hot body armor and helmets.

Your biggest enemies are sitting down, being "warm and cozy" and being alone. Keep engaged in conversation as often as you can, drink lots of ice cold water. When you have to piss after all that water, use it to keep you awake for as long as you can. Do light physical exercise. I guess since it's a hospital you can't exactly get on the floor and knock out some pushups, but take a good walk around the whole place every once in a while, at a brisk pace. That is the kind of stuff I do to get through periods like that, but I've also had lots of practice to pick up mental coping strategies. It's not unreasonable to go for weeks at a time with only a few hours of sleep a night, and poor sleep at that. You just have to know how to cope with it.

And if you were one of my Marines I would tell you;

"Hey, you should have joined the Army so you could get five hours of sleep and an AC hooch."

Tips about stopping caffeine until you need it are spot on. Decaf coffee is not decaffeinated, it just has less. Stop all coffee, you will feel like **** for a while, but when you start back up you'll get a pickup. Keep hydrated though, whenever you drink caffeine. And again, caffeine binges will only keep you up for a while, so save them till the end of the day, but make sure you wont be so wired you can't sleep.

Oh man Military time makes you so 1337.

If you're even thinking about this, wolfy, read the thread in TCC about it. Seriously, ****'s toxic.

Good luck, Wolfy. I really hate pulling late nights.

Also, what's TCC? My brother drinks a lot of Hype...it makes me shake my head.

I'm thinking of buying a box of No-doze in case the later hours (3-4 AM) start to become really difficult.

I'm hoping that since it's so late that the clinical staff will be available to chat and keep me actually doing something. I'll be in the ER, and I'll have nowhere to sit down. I'm also going to supplement myself with coffee and a deprivation of caffeine until I start working a shift.

TCC = The Crackhead Clubhouse (a forum on SomethingAwful).

yeah, i was just joking >.>

I dunno about staying awake, but i just got some kava tea to make me sleepy. >___>

lmfao! Ah... the joys of knowing the secret greatness that is 1:37PM